The education ministry recently disclosed that come September 2022 high school students completing fifth form will have to do an additional two years of post-secondary education to better prepare for higher education and/or the workforce. Many individuals have already started to criticise this decision, but with the majority of our population being undereducated, this new initiative could help to remedy this situation.

Across most of the tertiary institutions in Jamaica, students only need a minimum of five Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) subject passes between grades one and three in order to matriculate to higher education. However, university lecturers have for long complained that many of their freshmen do not possess the requisite content and skills to navigate their first two years of college — their use of language is weak and their cognitive capacity is below the expected standard.

Although more empirical data are needed, it has often been acknowledged that students who have done one or both years of sixth form tend to perform better academically than their peers who have only completed the traditional five years of secondary education. It is said that those who go to sixth form have in-depth critical thinking and reasoning abilities and, generally speaking, they have matured enough to take on the more difficult tasks encountered at the tertiary level. Of course, this is not to say that all CXC students are not college-ready.

One of the issues we continue to face in the education sector is our tardiness in adjusting curricula to meet the demands of the 21st century and, thus, prepare students to become ‘glocal’ citizens.

With the proposal to make sixth form mandatory, there ought to be some revision of the CXC syllabus. Currently, CXC is highly examination-based and centres a lot on memory. The content is also very weak, and we see a noticeable gap between what is taught at the CXC level versus the intellectual prowess that learners are expected to have at the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) level. Efforts need to be implemented to have a smoother transition between grade 11 and sixth form.

As a modern foreign language teacher, I would like to solidify my argument by citing the disconnect between what learners of French and Spanish study at the CXC versus CAPE level.

Firstly, at the CAPE level, students have to study literature in the foreign language, but there is absolutely no literature component in the CXC syllabus. This subject becomes even more complicated for learners who did not take English literature (B) in CXC. This may have helped them to understand a few concepts.

Secondly, at the CAPE level, students are exposed to more complex, global issues, such as artificial intelligence, genetically modified food, climate change, etc, which require specific and technical vocabulary in the target language, which they would not have known prior. In fact, it is at this level that many students are exposed to such themes for the first time.

Thirdly, foreign language learners are now forced, at the sixth form level, to adjust their brains and ears to hearing the target language being spoken more frequently by their teachers.

The idea, therefore, is that learners will need to be better equipped at the lower levels to perform well at the higher levels of the education system, not only in modern languages but all subject areas.

Technical and

It is welcoming to note that the mandatory sixth form proposal will not only cater to students who are strong academically, but also those who have an interest in the technical and vocational areas. For too long the education system and academics have pushed the idea that only the traditional fields are worth the investment; however, we continue to see the relevance of the sectors that are often scorned. In fact, many of them are more profitable than the traditional ones.

We must continue to recognise and appreciate that learners have different learning styles and multiple intelligences and that a student can succeed in any field. In fact, it has become more noticeable that many entrepreneurial ventures are created by individuals who pursued a career in the technical and vocational fields.

Resources

One of the inevitable questions as the education ministry pushes mandatory sixth form is whether the institutions have enough space to accommodate the future students. Under normal circumstances (pre-novel coronavirus era), several schools suffered from oversized classes and limited facilities to cater to students’ educational and other needs. Will schools have the necessary equipment for the technical and vocational domains? Will there be adequate academic staff members to cover these additional classes?

Education Minister Fayval Williams has indicated that some students would do their sixth form at some of our tertiary institutions, which provides some level of reassurance that each student should have an equal chance. Notwithstanding, how will we guarantee that no student will face discrimination and that all students who leave fifth form are accounted for?

The matter of financial resources is also of paramount importance. Many parents already find it extremely difficult to send their children through the regular high school system. How will some of them now afford sixth form, which is usually much more exorbitant? What role will the Government play in this regard?

Post sixth form

So the Ministry of Education will make sixth form mandatory. How will this better the students, the system, and the economy? Will students have access to jobs afterwards? Will their qualification/certification be recognised internationally? Will those who go on to pursue further studies be exempt from taking certain courses at university?

While sixth form will better prepare students cognitively and prevent some from being disengaged and unattached, we do not wish for it to be a case where they and their parents feel as though they have wasted two years of precious time and money. Colleges, especially those that offer four-year bachelor programmes, should seek to better accommodate CAPE students and help them to spend fewer years at university, where possible.

Oneil Madden is a PhD candidate in didactics and linguistics at the Université Clermont Auvergne, France, and president of the Association of Jamaican Nationals in France (JAMINFRANCE). Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or oneil.madden@uca.fr.

Oneil.madden@uca.fr